


Spare Parts Vol. 2

by AvatarofJord



Series: Spare Parts Universe [5]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Anal Sex, Character Death, F/M, M/M, Nasty Ravagers, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Ravager angst, Romance, Switching, Unapologetic use of Infinity Stones, headcannon, jail breaks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-04-18 14:33:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14215251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvatarofJord/pseuds/AvatarofJord
Summary: Kraglin Obfonteri is 12 years old when, through sheer force of will and a sense of self preservation, he stops believing in fate. That might work out better for him if Infinity Stones quit popping up everywhere and ruining the happy little family he's built for himself.The much(?) awaited sequel to Spare Parts.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I took a nice long hiatus-changed jobs and all that. and now I'm back hopefully to have this series completed BEFORE Infinity War comes out as was the original plan. I hope you guys are still kicking around and that this finale goes over as well as the last works. updates will be at weird intervals so sorry for the lack of consitency

Kraglin Obfonteri is 12 years old when, through sheer force of will and a sense of self preservation, he stops believing in fate. It’s an ugly memory faded around the edges by time and he doesn’t dwell on it often, keeps it pushed to the back of his skull.

The undercity slums of Xandar are a reeking, humid, crowded place, where those with nothing can surround themselves with people who have even less. The shacks are stacked three or four high along a sewer outlet, hidden beneath the streets of the capital. those unlucky enough to be on the bottom have to deal with the runoff from those above them as well as the occasional flood of wretched water. It’s a place most Xandarians prefer to forget. 

Every day is the same, a constant trudge from morning to the early evenings. Well, every day except today. Today is special. It’s the one day of the year Kraglin will spend his extra units on frivolous things instead of essentials to keep him and his sister fed and sheltered. Today, is her 7th birthday and he has a surprise for her. He rubs the sleep out of his eyes and rolls off the mat at the center of the shack he shares with her. A lower block unit, but three shacks away from where the sewer outlet bisects the undercity like a man made, polluted river. It’s only the two of them. His jacket hangs by the door and in its pocket are the 5 extra units he’s managed to secret away for the occasion. 

“Hey, lil’ slug, get up. Rise an’ shine or we’ll be late.” He whispers into her ear and gently shakes her shoulder. It’s early, really early, dark outside even for the slums, which never seem to get as much sun as the rest of the planet. The youngest Obfonteri blinks up at her big brother and grins.

“Late for what?” She asks. He’s never forgotten her birthday and she loves the different surprises he finds for her. 

“You wanted to see that Fortune teller, right? Well if we don’t go now we won’t get a slot in line.”

“Really?!” His sister jumps up and wraps her arms around her brother’s neck. All the other girls on the low block have been to see the fortune teller and they’ve all been told wonderful things. It’s exactly what she had hoped for her birthday. She dresses quickly in the red dress she wears every year. Looking at it Kraglin figures this will be the last year it’ll fit her. She puts on _the_ necklace, the one her mother used to wear, before she died and their father left them. She wears it for special occasions only, less chance of it being stolen that way.

“Hurry up now, there’s gonna be a line.”

There is in fact a line, but it’s only 8 or so people, and Kraglin hopes his surprise won’t be a bust. The fortune teller only sees so many people a day no matter how long the line gets, and it’s always first come first serve.

“What do you think we should ask about?” His sister asks, practically vibrating with anticipation. 

“You are gonna ask what you wanna know. I ain’t got enough units for us both.” He says. A person exits the shack at the end of the line, big smile in place and more bounce in their step than anyone as poor as their lot has any right to. Kraglin scowls, and runs a hand along the three or four hairs on his chin. He’s pretty sure the whole thing is a scheme, but he’s a smart boy, and if he can figure how the lady runs it well maybe he could have people lining up at his door. Would certainly beat having to pull extra shifts at the scrap house he works at now.

Another happy customer exits the establishment and the line moves up. His sister squeals her excitement and the older woman in front of them scowls back at her. Kraglin growls with blunt crooked teeth until the old bat turns back around. 

“What do you think she looks like?” 

Kraglin shrugs at the question, voice cracking as he answers. “Heard she’s an Asgardian. Also heard she’s a Skrull. So, it’s anyone’s guess.” 

“After today we won’t have to guess.” 

When they reach the door, Kraglin nabs his sister’s hand and gives it a squeeze. “Happy Birthday, Lil Slug.” He whispers. 

Inside, the shack is dimly lit, a few flickering candles on various flat surfaces. In the center of the room is a table, a bowl of water sat in the middle and another with unit chits off to the side. The woman sitting on the floor at the table isn’t a Skrull. She’s red haired and younger than he expected, clothed in a grey hooded robe. She could be an Asgardian he guesses, but she could also be Xandarian, or Spartaxian. Or any other pink humanoid. Either way she has a gentle face and she beckons them in with a delicate looking hand. 

“Well well, a pair of Obfonteri’s. Welcome.” She says and gestures for them to sit at her table. Kraglin remains standing at his sister’s back, cautious eyes glancing around, taking stock of potential weapons and exits. “I am Skuld. What can I do for you two today.”

“Just her, I only got 5 units.” He says and the woman smiles at him, although it doesn’t quite meet her eyes. 

“It’s her birthday.” Skuld says, eyes fixed on the little girl at her table.

“It’s my birthday!” His sister confirms with the kind of enthusiasm only children have. Kraglin considers it a badge of honor that she can still smile the way she does. That she doesn’t have the vacant and hollow expression so many other children on the lower block have. He’s done well by her.

“Well for your birthday, I will give you one free reading. Sit Kraglin, nothing in here will hurt you.” He does as she asks, not bothering with asking her how she knows his name, and drops his 5 units into her bowl. “Whoever will go first need only put a finger in the water. I will read the ripples.” 

Kraglin watches his sister dip her index finger into the water, enraptured. The water parts and ripples around the digit in perfect circles and Skuld leans over to stare into the bowl. It’s a moment before she lifts her eyes and when she does her face is ashy, gaunt. 

“Which do you want to hear about first? Love, wealth, or life?”

“Love!” She says and Kraglin can’t help the eyeroll that follows his sister’s declaration.

“Love...well. You will of course have your brother’s love, but you will...you will also meet a doctor.”

“What kind of doctor?”

“A medical doctor, a scientist.”

“Is he going to be very handsome?”

“Oh yes. Very. And he is going to...he is going to love you.” There’s a tremor in her voice, and her eyes keep glancing to the eldest of the pair. 

“Kraglin you do it.” His sister has his hand in hers, finger dipping into the bowl before he can protest. Again, Skuld leans over the bowl to look into the ripples and when she lifts her head her smile seems more genuine than the last one. 

“So, which do you want to hear about?”

“How about wealth.”

“I am afraid to say you will never be a wealthy man, at least not by conventional definitions.” Kraglin sighs like he didn’t already know that.

“Life?”

“You will have…. well I hesitate to say a good life, but it will suit you. You will travel the stars, see great things. You will be the first mate to a fearless captain.”

“My brother is a pilot.” His sister says with a proud smile and Kraglin can’t help his blush. He isn’t really, but he wants to be and his sister has never really seen the distinction between wanting to be something and succeeding at being. Kraglin dreams of flying, watches the contrails of exiting starships with a greedy kind of desire, and makes a wish on every one of them. So as far as his sister is concerned that makes him a pilot. 

“Yes, I believe he is. And you my sweet dear. You will be happy all the days of your life.” Skuld finishes, but Kraglin gets the feeling there’s more she isn’t saying. They’re both ushered back out the door shortly after that. All in all, it’s an incredibly vague reading, enough that the eldest Obfonteri considers snatching his units back out of the bowl. But the smile on his sister’s face as they leave is enough that he doesn’t. It’s her day after all, so he’ll try and be on his best behaviour.

It’s less than a month after they see the her that Kraglin finds himself back at the fortune teller’s door. Alone. He doesn’t stand in line and he doesn’t bring any units for her. He also doesn’t bother to wash the blood off his hands and face. He barges in and finds Skuld much as she had been during their first meeting, legs folded under her, face soft and inviting even as she frowns. He drops the man sized cybernetic leg on her table, upsetting both the bowls sitting on it.

“You lied to her.” He says, his body won’t stop shaking as his brain replays the last couple of days over and over. His missing sister, the machines she’d been strapped too when he found her, the hub, the way she melted under the heat. The way the Surgeon had crumpled when he’d hit him, again and again and again.

“I didn’t lie…. I bent the truth.”

“You told her-”

“She would meet a doctor, that she would be happy for all her days.” Skuld says staring at the young man, because he is a man now, every vestige of the little boy he’d been bludgeoned to death along with his sister’s murderer. “I didn’t say her days would be long.”

There’s an ugly kind of understanding unfolding in Kraglin’s brain, like backwards origami.“You knew.” He warbles, voice cracking as he fights to hold himself together. “You knew what would happen to her.”

“I did.”

“You coulda saved her.” 

Skuld shakes her head. “I couldn’t. What happened to her...it was fated.” 

“I don’t believe you!” Kraglin shouts and the dam he’s erected in his eyes bursts. He hasn’t cried yet, has had to hold it all inside while he looked for the man responsible. He’d hunted him day and night, watching everyone in the lower block. No sleep and nothing to eat. Now, Kraglin crumples on the floor, and wails. Skuld has him in her arms, gawky limbs fighting her hold. It isn’t long before he relents and deigns to let her hold him, exhaustion and despair sapping his energy. 

“I’m sorry. There was nothing to be done. And telling her, it would only have frightened her.”

“You coulda told me! I coulda watched her closer!” 

“No, my dear, it was fated.”

“I don’t care about that! I want my sister back!”

“I know. And I am sorry.” He continues to cry, body shaking, snot trailing down the hooded robe Skuld is wearing. The blood on his hands and his clothes is beginning to stain it, but she doesn’t seem to mind. She brushes his floppy hair back from his forehead and tries to croon soothing sounds against his brow. It’s a cold comfort, but it’s more than he’s likely to receive anywhere else. It’ll be several years in the future before tears like these fall from blue Xandarian eyes again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and number 2, which in the tradition of Spare Parts takes us back to the present day! so now we can really get the story going.

“Ok guys, Sound off!” Peter says into his comm, looking down on the streets of Spartax, his helmet taking stock of the citizens on the ground. They’ve been hired by the Collector to return something he’s lost. Something that had been entrusted to him by the Asgardians. He’d called it the Aether, but Peter’s pretty sure it’s another Infinity Stone, and wouldn’t it be great if those stopped popping up all over the place. “Everyone in their positions?”

“The sound is not off, I can hear you perfectly well, Quill.” Drax says, leaned against an alley wall across from the bar’s backdoor. It’s called Victoria’s Chalice and as far as Peter can tell it’s meant to be a lewd reference to the Crown princess of Spartax. Peter rolls his eyes inside his helmet as Rocket’s laughter echoes across the shared channel. “How do I turn the sound off?”

“Don’t worry about it, man. Gamora, you set?” Peter’s helmet scans the building to his right and catches sight of Gamora, crouched low and ready to go. Her pink tipped hair flows in the wind behind her like a capelet and Peter has to remind himself to stay on task and not stare at her. It’s not his fault that the pink in her hair is almost a perfect match for the sunset lit clouds behind her. 

“Yes, I have eyes on the window, but I do not see the target.”

“Rocket, Yondu, you there? You see our guy yet?” The comm channel crackles with laughter again and Peter sighs. He knew letting those two camp out together had been a bad idea. 

According to some of Rocket’s underworld, bounty hunter connections their target is hiding out in the upper rooms of the popular watering hole. Well, popular for the kind of regrettable characters that take jobs stealing from folks like the Collector. Most of the bar patrons have bounties with the Nova Corps that would have given most of the Ravagers serious inferiority complexes. Which makes the establishment exactly the kind of place both Yondu and Rocket feel more than comfortable in. 

“Yea we’re here Quill! No sign of this...what was his name?” Rocket says.

“Meryn Zell. Are you guys even looking for him?” Peter asks annoyed.

Sat at a short, illuminated table inside, Yondu throws another shooter down his gullet and grins at his table companion as it burns on the way down. It’s been about a half hour since he and Rocket really started drinking in earnest, half the fun of being on lookout inside a bar he figures. Rocket has a data screen in front of him, scanning the various patrons of the bar. If his mouth waters a little bit at the size of these bounties at least he can blame it on the drinks. He’ll definitely be putting a tracker on several of these walking cash cows before he leaves.

“Yea, yea, boy, course we’re lookin’ for him. Ain’t that right Rat?” Yondu says, a companionable elbow nudged into Rocket’s side. Rocket winks at him and downs the rest of his third beer. At least Yondu thinks it’s a beer. The neon lights of the establishment have turned everything into various colors, his own eyes and fin a bright neon pink that stands out amongst all the softer blues of the joint. The lighting has made both of their drinks a neon green, not a color usually associated with beer on any planet, so he’s not exactly sure what’s in the bottle. 

“Guys this is serious.” Peter whines and Yondu and Rocket both laugh again. 

“Of course, it is. I thought you knew me better than that Quill, do you really think I’d risk the kind of pay off this job could land us?” Rocket says as Yondu motions for the cute yellow serving girl at least a third of his age, the one with the cranial-dorsal crest running in peaks down her back, to bring them another round. Her purple eyes light on his own cybernetic fin, which prompts him to give a little whistle to make it strobe, and she flutters her lashes at him.

“Fine, go ahead, drink yourselves stupid! But when Zell slips passed you don’t say I didn’t warn you!” 

“Relax, Quill-”

“Kraglin, you got those engines still runnin’ hot?” Peter cuts Yondu’s attempt at reassurance off. “I’m thinkin’ we're gonna need to get out of here really quick after we nab this guy.”

“No, I ain’t got ‘em runnin’ hot!” Kraglin responds and Peter can practically see the perturbed look on his face. Anytime Peter suggests they make a change to the Quadrant, he swears, Kraglin takes it as a personal affront. There’s no mistaking it at this point, that she’s Kraglin’s baby. Even Rocket has stopped making adjustments without talking to the Xandarian first. “We wasted more than enough fuel goin’ all the way back to Knowhere just to come back to Spartax.”

“Dude we can buy more fuel!”

“Hey hey now, Petey, you mind your older brother, he knows what he’s doin.” Yondu interrupts and can’t keep himself from laughing at the gagging sound that follows his statement over the comm. He can’t tell if it’s from Kraglin or Peter and that just makes him laugh harder. 

“Quill, I am confused.” Drax chimes in a moment later and Yondu knows exactly what’s coming next. “If Kraglin is your brother, and he is engaged in carnal relations with your-”

“Stop! Please, guys, come on! Focus!” Peter shouts. “And Drax, Kraglin isn’t really my brother.”

“Awe! Don’t say that out loud boy, you’re gonna hurt his feelings!” 

“Yondu, I swear to-”

“Peter, I have movement!” Gamora says and all other conversations stop. Two figures have just entered the room, the male of the pair kicked into the room by the female. The fight appears to have started into the hallway and carried into the room. 

“Is it Zell?” 

“Not just Zell.” Gamora answers. She stands and runs back a few paces along roof she’s been positioned on before turning towards the window. The window is just a window, not reinforced and not a force field, just good old fashioned fused quartz glass. She snaps her sword out and starts off. When she gets to the edge of the roof she jumps, throws her sword to break through the window and tumbles inside with a graceful somersault. She has her weapon back in her hand before she’s back on her feet. The pair that had been engaged in a kind of patty-cake fist fight break apart as soon as they see her. “Hello, Nebula.”

“Gamora.” Nebula’s fist manages to smash the surprised Zell in the mouth while he gapes at her sister. He spins in a complete 360 before catching his balance and glancing between _The_ daughters of Thanos. 

Downstairs Rocket’s keen ears hear the sound of a scuffle and shattered glass on the upper levels even over the beat of the music. He snaps up Yondu’s last shooter and downs it before the Centaurian can stop him, tossing the glass over his shoulder and pulling his laser cannon off his back. “C’mon Blue, sounds like the fun has started.”

“You’re gonna pay me back for that, you know.” Yondu says, lips pouted and blue finger leveled with Rocket’s fuzzy muzzle. “Quill watch the front door, me an’ the Rat is headin’ up!” 

“What?! No that is not part of the plan!”

“Not part of your plan anyway.” Rocket smirks and follows Yondu through the back room and up that stairs to the upper level. Yondu chuckles before following it up with a whistle, yaka arrow slipping out of it’s holster and preceding them up the stairs with a lazy twirl. It’s not a long way up and both of them can hear Gamora speaking before they enter the room.

“What are you doing here Nebula?” Gamora asks, she tries to keep her tone even, trying to convey to her sister that this isn’t an interrogation. They both move, circling the confused Zell who runs a hand against his lip to wipe the smear of blue blood away, yellow eyes searching for a fast exit.

“He has something. An infinity stone. I’ve come to claim it before he can deliver it.” 

“I ain’t got no infinity stone, sweethearts!” Nebula sneers at him before moving in, but surprisingly Meryn Zell is quite quick. He ducks her fists three or four times, knowing a single hit would probably level him, but he can’t fight them both. Gamora’s foot catches him in the chest and knocks him to the ground and she places her blade against his throat. 

“Where is the Aether?”

“It’s on his back.” Nebula says, reaching to flip Zell onto his stomach and lift the tail of his black jacket. Sure enough, strapped into the holster on his back is the black cubed structure, red line bisecting it horizontally. Before Nebula can unlatch it, Zell’s hand swats Gamora’s blade away and he rolls back over, pulling a Spartoi blaster out and squeezing off a shot near Nebula’s head. He’s on his feet a moment later and running for the broken window. “Stop him!” 

A sharp whistle cuts the air the same time the sound of a laser cannon firing an electronet is heard. The sight of the yaka arrow barreling towards his face brings Zell up short on the window just as Rocket’s net hits him between the shoulder blades and drops him. He flops several times like a landed fish before it shuts down, the sound of laughter hitting his ears as he continues to twitch. 

“That never gets old!” Rocket shouts, finger pointed while he wheezes and laughs, leaned against Yondu’s leg. Gamora rolls her eyes at the pair of them before kicking Zell in his gut and rolling him onto his front. She flips the back of his jacket over his head and pulls the Aether from the holster before hitting her comm. 

“Peter, I have the Aether.” 

“What, really? That’s great! Kraglin, fire up the Quadrant and let’s get out of here!” Peter’s enthusiasm and disbelief at a job so easily completed is apparent in his voice.

“Sure thing, Cap-uh-Quill.” 

Gamora secures the Aether chamber to her belt, before finding herself face to face with her sister. There are no discernable emotions on Nebula’s face, but there is an air of urgency about her.

“I need that.” She says and Gamora can’t help but roll her eyes.

“You can’t have it. The Asgardians gave it to the Collector.”

“And he’s payin’ us Little Sister. So sorry.” Yondu cuts in, but everyone can tell he isn’t sorry at all. Nebula scoffs at him.

She’s about to start arguing, Gamora can tell. But before she can do more than inhale bright lights from the direction of the broken window snap on, spotlights, effectively blinding everyone in the room. Gamora shields her eyes with her hand and looks toward their source. A Spartoi patrol ship hovers just outside, gun ports open and trained on all of them. There are two peace officers visible through the windshield, one piloting the ship and the other calling over the intercom.

“Do not move. By order of Emperor J’son of Spartax, you are under arrest.” 

For a beat no one breathes. Gamora has her sword still in hand and she’s pretty sure she could take out the tiny cruiser with it. Drax is directly below if she needs back up. She hears the soft whistle behind her and watches the yaka arrow slowly spin around to face the ship. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go unnoticed by the officer. 

“Hey, I said don’t move, Assholes!” Nebula loses her patience a moment later.

“I don’t have time for this.” She says, one hand quickly reaching to Gamora’s side to pull the Aether chamber from her belt the same time her elbow comes up and catches her sister in the mouth. Gamora’s head reels back, unprepared for an assault from her sister. The next hit catches her in the side, a shin to the ribs that knocks her out the window. Nebula jumps after her seconds before the patrol ship empties its payload in the room. 

Yondu sees the ship’s weapons power on on the other side of Gamora and Nebula’s falling forms and yanks Rocket out of the room, a barrage of bullets following milliseconds later. A sharp string of whistles and the yaka arrow stops the guns, cutting through the poor armor,it might as well be paper compared to any of the walls of the Eclector. He can hear Peter’s panicked babbling on his com but ignores it in favor of dragging the Rat down the stairs with him. He also hears the ship crash on the last whistle, yaka arrow a red streamer bisecting the crowd in the bar to follow him out the front door. 

“Quill, shut your mouth we gotta go!” He says, dropping a tufted, irritated racoon. 

“What the hell happened?!” Peter whines. From his perch on the building next door, he can see the incoming patrol ships. Their sirens are blaring and their forward lights are flashing. He’s always found it a little hilarious how universal the sight of strobing lights and the sound of a blaring horn is. “Yondu, what did you do?!” 

“What did I do!?”

“Yes, what did you do?!”

“Now, why does it have to be me?!” Yondu retorts, throwing a rude hand gesture in Quills direction from down below him. He whistles the yaka into it’s holster about the same time he notices the incoming cruisers. “Kraglin! We need an exit strategy!”

“What did you do?!” Kraglin’s voice comes over his comm clear and irritated and Yondu rolls his eyes. 

“Nothin!” He says, just as Quill lands nearby, blasters out. He smacks Rocket on the back of the head to prompt him to follow and starts running. “We gotta get out of here pronto, these Spartoi guards are no joke.” 

“That’s why this was supposed to be a stealth operation! Grab and Go!” Quill laments, teeth grinding inside his helmet. The three of them take off down the back alleys of Spartax, Quill glancing back occasionally at the gaining cruisers. They won’t out run them but they might be able to hide in the winding labyrinth that is the cities capital.

“Pfft. If you wanted stealth you shoulda left me and the Crabby Puppy on the ship, boy.” The cruisers start shooting at them a second later.


End file.
